July 21, 2008 (Schuol, Switzerland) – Greetings from the (Swiss) alps! Today’s 3rd stage was 75km long taking us from Ischgl, Austria to Schuol, Switzerland. All night the rain was hammering down and I’m sure everyone had the same hope as us – that it would all blow over by the morning for the start. Well it was not to be and we started the day in a light rain with about 10 degrees. Not the best conditions considering we were climbing to the highest elevation in the race this year.

So we dressed accordingly with a jersey, thermal vest, arm warmers, booties and winter gloves. Then we both had our rain jackets to put on for the downhill and I had a hat for under my helmet as well.

The climb up the Idjoch is long and steep. Basically takes one and a half hours in the granny gear. We climbed to an elevation of 2,800m. For the last 20 minutes the light rain turned to light snow for us. It was minus 5 at the top.

It was a cool sight though watching the line of riders disappearing into a cloud and then at the top everyone stopped to put on warm clothes for the downhill. It was a bit chilly but we had just the right mix of clothes and so we were ok. At the bottom the sun was out and we were also rewarded with spectacular scenery for pretty much the next 50kms.

We met up with our first feeders and I had taken all my warm clothes off while riding and put them in my vest pockets. Only problem was that my vest zipper got stuck. So it was quite a scene with me still riding my bike on the steep hill and two of the girls trying to help me get the vest off over my head. We did it all and I even got my two bottles. A well coordinated team we are!

Up the next climb we started to look for some guys to ride with for the long flattish run in to the finish. While we were on this climb Pia timed the other two women’s teams in 2nd and 3rd at two and three minutes back from us. I didn’t really want to key our efforts off of them though. We bridged up to two nice strong looking guys and stayed with them to the top and down the descent.

Then we had 10kms of road and a good group to ride with. On the road we went through the Swiss border crossing. Usually we pass the borders in the trails but today we knew when we hit Switzerland. Thankfully they did not ask to see our passports.

It’s only Day 3 but there are obviously a lot of very tired riders already. Again we moved forward well towards the finish. Our group was full of those tired riders so nobody wanted to help with the pacemaking except for two fellows. That’s was ok. We were pretty happy to have a relaxed run to the line. It’s the first chance we have had in the past three days to take it easier on the pedals for a bit.

We still finished as first women’s team and gained yet a few more minutes to strenghthen our lead. It was a successful day racing and also a pretty nice day of riding with the trails and scenery. The sun was shining at the finish and the extended forecast says we can put all the winter clothes away. Great news.

Ok, I’m hungry for dinner now so that’s on my mind again. Last night was really good and tonight should be cool. We are taking a gondola up to a mountain restaurant for what should be the most scenic dinner of the race. I’m quite happy (most of the time) to ride my bike up mountains for the great views, but I’m also plenty happy that tonight’s climb is lift assisted.

Canadian MTB legend and Pedal columnist, Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain), is competing at the 8-day 2008 Trans Alps, June 19-26, with her partner Pia Sundstedt (Fin), Marathon World Cup winner. Sydor and Sundstedt won the Absa Cape Epic event earlier this year and have teamed up for the 11th annual Jeantex Trans Alp race featuring 550 teams and 1,100 riders. Ali will be sending us daily reports from the front lines as conditions allow for an inside look at this epic endurance race.

Full results pdf here.

Results

Men
1. Karl Platt (Ger)/Stefan Sahm (Ger) Team Bulls 3:20.14
2. Martin Kraler (Aut)/Heinz Verbnjak (Aut) Craft and Friends 3:21.34
3. Frank Lehmann (Ger)/Hardter Uwe (Ger) Team Cube 3:24:07

Women
1. Alison Sydor (Can)/Pia Sundstedt (Fin) Team Rocky Mountain 3:53.15
2. Peggy Klose (Ger)/Sandra Klose (Ger) Zwillingscraft-Ideal 3:55.31
3. Katrin Schwing (Ger)/Fabienne Heinzmann (Sui) Dolphin-Trek 3:58.35

Mixed
1. Werner Fischer (Sui)/Milena Landtwing (Sui) Institut Ftan/Velo Franz Univega 3:54.20
2. Anita Steiner (Sui)/Cornel Bamert (Sui) Team Stöckli Wädenswil 3:54.41
3. Claudia Till (Ger)/Franz Trattler (Ger) Zwillingscraft-Ideal-Mixed (126) 4:05.23

Master
1. Ekkehard Dörschlag (Aut)/Heinz Zörweg (Aut) Team KTM 3:27.26
2. Walter Platzgummer (Ita)/Johann Grasegger (Ger) Scott-adidas-Naturns 3:31.47
3. Team Generali, Austria (89) 3:31.54

Senior Master
1. Ferdinand Ganser (Ger)/Georg Niggl (Ger) Ept Connect 3:53.16
2. Walter Ehrler (Sui)/Marcel Arnold (Sui) Giant Swiss D’Ãœrner Oldies 3:58.34
3. Maghagati, Italy (153) 3:59.51